Levi Strauss

Levi Strauss's life is one of the great examples of the American
immigrant success story. Through hard work, the willingness to take risks,
and some luck, Strauss became one of the most prominent citizens of San
Francisco at the end of the nineteenth century. Strauss also lent his name
to one of the best-known and best-loved U.S. products: Levi's blue
jeans.

Learning the Business

Levi Strauss—first known as Loeb—was born on February 26,
1829, in the small village of Buttenheim, in the Bavarian region of
Germany. His father Hirsch had four children with a first wife, and three
with Rebecca Haas, Strauss's mother. The elder Strauss sold dry
goods, and several of his sons continued the family business after they
left Germany. The Strausses were Jewish, and the United States offered
them greater freedom and opportunities.

"I am a bachelor, and I fancy on that account I need to work
more, for my entire life is my business."

Levi Strauss made the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 1847 with his
mother and two sisters. After his arrival in New York, Strauss went into
business with his half-brothers Jonas
and Louis, who had immigrated earlier. As an employee at J. Strauss
Brother & Company, Strauss learned how to buy and sell cloth and
other dry goods. In 1849, Strauss left for Kentucky to work as a peddler,
selling an assortment of items out of a pack or trunk he carried on his
back.

By this time, gold had been discovered at Sutter's Mill, just
outside Sacramento, California, drawing thousands of fortune hunters to
the area. As the "gold rush" continued, Strauss's
sister Fanny and her husband David Stern went to San Francisco to open a
dry-goods business. In 1853, Strauss decided to join them. After becoming
a U.S. citizen, he sailed for California, bringing dry goods supplied by
his brothers' company.

Early Success

Strauss set up his own wholesale business, called simply Levi Strauss, and
acted as the West Coast agent for his half-brothers. As his business grew,
Strauss moved several times to larger quarters. Eventually David Stern
joined his business. Their supplies came by ship, and the partners never
knew what goods would be available. The items Strauss and Stern bought
included denim work pants or the fabric itself. Most of their goods were
sold to miners, but as more families came to San Francisco, Strauss and
Stern added clothing for women and children. Strauss occasionally left the
city to sell goods to the small shops opening up near mining camps. He
developed a reputation for selling quality goods at a fair price.

By 1861, Strauss had one of the most successful dry-goods businesses in
San Francisco, and the firm continued to grow. Goods still came from the
New York branch of the company, but Strauss also had items made on the
West Coast, including pants. The first work pants he sold were made of
canvas, but Strauss later switched to denim. He hired tailors to make the
pants in their homes. The pants were just one of many products sold by
Levi Strauss & Company.

During these years, Strauss lived with Fanny and David Stern. Dressed
formally for work, he walked each day to his office. At the company,
however, Strauss was not formal with his workers, insisting they call him
Levi. Strauss was also becoming a leader in San Francisco's Jewish
community. He joined an organization that helped needy Jews in the region,
and he helped raise money to build a temple and a cemetery.

The Pants with the Rivets

One of Strauss's customers was a Nevada tailor named Jacob Davis.
Like Strauss, Davis was a Jewish immigrant. In 1872, he sent Strauss a
letter describing improvements he had made to denim pants; how he had made
the seams stronger near the pockets and the fly. Davis also asked Strauss
to pay for an application to patent the pants. By securing a patent, no
other company could use Davis's design. Strauss could see that
Davis had made valuable improvements, so he readily agreed. In 1873, his
company sold its first pair of blue denim pants with rivets—the
original Levi's blue jeans.

To make the pants that he called "waist high overalls,"
Strauss opened his first manufacturing plant, with Davis supervising the
operation. The company also made denim jackets with rivets and later added
work shirts to its line. Within a few years, the company had several
hundred workers. Although Strauss also continued to sell wholesale dry
goods, making and selling his own clothes eventually became the most
successful part of his business.

As Levi Strauss & Company grew, the management changed. David Stern
died in 1874, and his sons—Strauss's nephews—began
entering the business and taking on more responsibilities. Strauss,
however, continued to make major company decisions. Strauss's
fortune also grew: an 1877 report said he was worth more than $4 million.
This fortune included real estate as well as his share of Levi Strauss
& Company. Other companies recognized his prominence, and Strauss
was asked to sit on the board of directors of several area firms. He also
served on the San Francisco Board of Trade, which promoted local products.

Even though Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss patented their riveted pants,
competitors illegally copied the design. In 1874, Strauss filed the
first of many lawsuits to stop other companies from copying his blue
jeans.

Final Years

During the 1890s, Strauss briefly turned his attention from clothes and
invested in railroads. In 1891, he and other

The Haas Family Takes Charge

With no children to run Levi Strauss & Company after his death,
Levi Strauss left his business to his nephews, the Sterns. In 1919,
Jacob Stern brought his son-in-law Walter Haas into the company. Haas
became chief executive officer (CEO) in 1928, and he and his sons
receive the credit for making Levi Strauss & Company a worldwide
leader in the apparel industry.

Walter Haas Sr. was born in San Francisco in 1889. He graduated from the
University of California, Berkeley, in 1910 after majoring in business.
After serving in the military during World War I (1914-18), Haas took a
job at Levi Strauss & Company. Within a few years, Haas asked his
brother-in-law, Daniel Koshland, to join the firm. The two men focused
on ways to improve profits at the company.

Haas served as CEO until 1955, then remained as chairman of the board
until 1970. He remained active in the company's affairs until his
death in 1979. His sons, Walter j. and Peter, were also heavily involved
in the company. Haas Jr., like his father, studied business at Berkeley.
He thought about being a doctor, but Levi Strauss was still a small
company when Haas left college in 1937, and he felt compelled to enter
the family business. He attended Harvard Business School and then joined
Levi Strauss as a stock boy. In 1958, he succeeded Daniel Koshland as
CEO. With Haas jr. running the company, Levi Strauss began to grow
tremendously. "I don't think anybody could have
anticipated the jeans boom [of the 1960s]," he told
Daily News Record.
Haas Jr. stepped down as CEO in 1976, and his brother took over.

In 1980, Haas Jr. won the respect of San Francisco Bay area residents
when he bought the Oakland A's baseball team. The team likely
would have left Oakland if he had not stepped in. Haas Jr., like his
father, was also famous for his generosity. Both men gave large sums to
Berkeley; the business school there is named for Haas Sr. Both also
started foundations to distribute some of their wealth to charitable
causes. An obituary after the younger Haas's death in 1995 noted
that that he often said his generosity was "in the genes."

Haas Jr.'s son Robert took over Levi Strauss & Company in
1984. He continued the family tradition of attending Berkeley and, like
his father, graduated from the Harvard Business School. Haas also served
in the Peace Corps and worked as a consultant before joining the family
business in 1973. Under Robert Haas, Levi Strauss & Company saw
its best year ever in 1996, when sales reached $7.1 billion. After that,
however, sales fell, and in 1999 Haas brought in Philip Marineau, the
former CEO of Pepsi North America (see
PepsiCo, Inc.
entry), to run the company. Marineau was only the second person without
ties to Levi Strauss to run the company. Haas remained involved with the
company as the chairman of the board.

San Francisco merchants wanted to open their own railway to combat the
high prices charged by existing lines to ship goods. That plan failed. A
few years later, Strauss invested $25,000 in another railroad plan. This
time, the man behind the project sold all the shares to another railroad
company, which then struck a deal with the existing firms that charged
high fares. After that disappointment, Strauss gave up on railroads and
stuck with the business he knew best.

In 1897, Strauss again turned to philanthropy, giving money to the
University of California, Berkeley, to fund twenty-eight scholarships.
Strauss realized that having a fortune brought with it a responsibility to
share. In an 1895 interview quoted in
Everyone Wears His Name,
Strauss said that riches "do not cause happiness to their
owners." Spreading the wealth, he believed, brought greater joy.

By 1902, illness began to slow down Strauss, and he took a vacation to try
to restore his health. By fall, however, his condition worsened, and he
died in his sleep during the night of September 26. His death made the
headlines of local papers, and shopkeepers closed their businesses to
attend his funeral. Today, the Levi Strauss & Company Web site
notes that its founder was praised for "his broad and generous love
for and sympathy with humanity." He also left behind his name on
the pants that became an American classic decades after his death.